American Pickers Coming Back To Missouri, Looking For Places To Go Picking

Editorial by Echo Menges

We got an interesting phone call at The Edina Sentinel office on Tuesday afternoon, March 8, 2016. On the other end of the conversation was a woman named Tamar. She asked if we, the newspaper, will help spread the word that the American Pickers, Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz, from the TV show, will be filming in Missouri and they’re looking for places to “go picking”.

I explained that we are located in the Northeast region of the state – the commonly forgotten area of Missouri, which is full of small towns most Americans have never heard of like Edina and so on.

She said, “Those are exactly the kinds of places we love to go!”

And, no, she had never heard of us, which kind of added to the excitement and really drove the point home.

The show American Pickers is a series featured on the History channel. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. The stars of the show, Mike and Frank, and we can’t forget Danielle Colby-Cushman, are filmed setting up, driving to and going through buildings full of… some call it “antique treasurers” while others might think of it as “old junk”.

At the locations they visit, they always find some interesting historical, antique or one-of-a-kind treasure tucked away, try to negotiate a fair price and often buy it. Those adventures meeting people and finding “things” end up on TV.

The show is looking for people with a plethora of these antique treasurers, cool stuff, old junk, one-of-a-kind pieces and they are partial to motorcycles, classic cars, classic bicycles and vintage memorabilia.

My favorite feature of the show, yes – I love that show, is that they dig into the history of the items they find and become fixed on, and then they share it with their audience. Also, they get to know the people who permit them to come out and look through their stuff, and so does the audience.

I did tell Tamar I would help. So Tamar, if you’re out there reading this, this is me helping.

They’re setting up locations now to visit in May of this year, which is right around the corner.

If YOU (or someone you know) have a large private collection of the kind of stuff they’re looking for, you’d be interested in the American Pickers sifting through your treasurers and you’re open to being on the show – here’s what you should do:

Send your name, phone number, location, a description of your collection and photos to americanpickers@cineflix.com or call (855)OLD-RUST.

Wouldn’t it be cool to see these guys, and gal, in Northeast Missouri! I can think of a few people and places right now – just off the top of my head – that would be perfect. Let’s get the word out and see if we can get them to visit our little neck of the woods. Our area, like our inhabitants, is indeed “one-of-a-kind!”